Tried listening to The Stranglers today....

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 hours ago, Velarian said:

Sorry for not getting back to you on the live album question. Unfortunately my enquiries proved to be a dead end and nobody I know has a copy. 😕

No problem. Thanks for asking 👍

[upside downer]

On 9/25/2024 at 10:08 PM, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

As this seems to be the only Stranglers thread on Basschat, I'll ask this question here.

Do any of you have the '50 Years in Black' live double CD?

It was released last year as a limited edition through their web site. It was re-issued once more by popular demand and sold out again.

It does not appear it will be released again. I asked this morning and they said there were no plans to do so.

I would really like to hear it.

 

There's a couple going on ebay...here's one of them.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/356138377663?_skw=50+years+in+black+live+double+cd&itmmeta=01JAFK7DD0MPMV2FAAH7NHE2FB&hash=item52eb8061bf:g:pTYAAOSwEtlm9Se-&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmjDzb47qy69q8W7Dtwee9KAvVPXEoZeawRhOOrjRFldGo50sCylYS7LhQ8ewYm8Wz74wLTpdd4jZ00Vz8Rh2erH0EylSArPC2Mb8WjtsJmoB1EMR9x3IR0%2BLgHYTcrWxmDlfYMj7sQrx1R6JaqBlHZyF42Omzd8sSDX36Fc6ie9gYybSdgiyk81H6wK35pSGratpr%2F8Jsc7cJDknKNqH%2FP04ZSp5hUw%2FAxiZmiYmQ6SXm2%2FDaSJMHj21n3%2F%2BC9SgSzKaiKc68yCrNffMYaHyaQ|tkp%3ABk9SR8zWnfPTZA

 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, upside downer said:

 

There's a couple going on ebay...here's one of them.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/356138377663?_skw=50+years+in+black+live+double+cd&itmmeta=01JAFK7DD0MPMV2FAAH7NHE2FB&hash=item52eb8061bf:g:pTYAAOSwEtlm9Se-&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmjDzb47qy69q8W7Dtwee9KAvVPXEoZeawRhOOrjRFldGo50sCylYS7LhQ8ewYm8Wz74wLTpdd4jZ00Vz8Rh2erH0EylSArPC2Mb8WjtsJmoB1EMR9x3IR0%2BLgHYTcrWxmDlfYMj7sQrx1R6JaqBlHZyF42Omzd8sSDX36Fc6ie9gYybSdgiyk81H6wK35pSGratpr%2F8Jsc7cJDknKNqH%2FP04ZSp5hUw%2FAxiZmiYmQ6SXm2%2FDaSJMHj21n3%2F%2BC9SgSzKaiKc68yCrNffMYaHyaQ|tkp%3ABk9SR8zWnfPTZA

 

Yeah I was trying avoid paying triple the £15 original selling price.

[Si600]

I appear to have just joined a Stranglers "Tribute" band....  I was a bit indifferent to the idea initially tbh.  I'm aware of them but just the odd song on compilation albums or playlists, but then I started trying to learn the lines.  It's given me a whole new appreciation for them and JJ.

 

Are there any decent tutorial/score resources out there for the bass lines?  I'm not terribly good with ear learning from record and I like to have something to read along to as I go, in the early stages a least.

[Lozz196]

Congrats, you’re going to have to put some graft in but I’m sure it will be very rewarding 

[thebrig]

32 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I appear to have just joined a Stranglers "Tribute" band....  I was a bit indifferent to the idea initially tbh.  I'm aware of them but just the odd song on compilation albums or playlists, but then I started trying to learn the lines.  It's given me a whole new appreciation for them and JJ.

 

Are there any decent tutorial/score resources out there for the bass lines?  I'm not terribly good with ear learning from record and I like to have something to read along to as I go, in the early stages a least.

I nearly joined a Stranglers tribute band about a year ago but it was too far away unfortunately, but I have managed to learn a few of their songs such as Peaches, No More Heroes, and Nice n Sleazy, etc, the hardest part I found was getting JJ's tone, but I managed to get reasonably close, I think? 🤔

 

Go for it, JJ's bass lines are great fun to play, and if I can do it, I'm sure you can. 👍

[Beedster]

47 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I appear to have just joined a Stranglers "Tribute" band....  I was a bit indifferent to the idea initially tbh.  I'm aware of them but just the odd song on compilation albums or playlists, but then I started trying to learn the lines.  It's given me a whole new appreciation for them and JJ.

 

Are there any decent tutorial/score resources out there for the bass lines?  I'm not terribly good with ear learning from record and I like to have something to read along to as I go, in the early stages a least.

You lucky b******d 👏

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, thebrig said:

the hardest part I found was getting JJ's tone, but I managed to get reasonably close, I think? 🤔

 

shouldn't worry too much, he can't get it anymore

[Lozz196]

Harsh, Paul

[PaulWarning]

1 minute ago, Lozz196 said:

Harsh, Paul

but true, I think anyway, certainly last time I saw them about 3 years ago

[Lozz196]

5 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

but true, I think anyway, certainly last time I saw them about 3 years ago

Yeah agree, he still sounds like JJ by his playing style but that famous aggressive tone of the early years has gone. 

[Bass Fumbler]

www.relentlessrevolutions/stranglers

 

Plenty of Stranglers bass tabs on the above site. I don’t know why No More Heroes isn’t on there but that’s usually on the other tabs site. 
Enjoy playing a great selection of bass lines. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Bass Fumbler

[Velarian]

25 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Yeah agree, he still sounds like JJ by his playing style but that famous aggressive tone of the early years has gone. 

Of course, JJ's bass sound on the early albums was allegedly attributed to him using a cab where one of the speakers had a ripped cone but he hadn't realised until later. His trademark tone had pretty much disappeared by the Raven album and not long after that he'd moved from a Precision to a BB2000, further softening the aggressive edge. Perhaps he recaptured the original sound a little after moving to Shuker basses?

 

In my live playing days in the early 80s, although we weren't a "tribute" band, we were heavily influence by the Stranglers and we did play quite a few of their tracks as part of the set, always ending with the epic Down in the Sewer. In those days learning a song involved setting the counter on a cassette deck and endlessly playing/rewinding a small section until something resembling the original part could be achieved. Either that or endlessly lifting and dropping the arm on a turntable with the frustrating inaccuracy that involves.

 

More recently, just for fun, I've decided to try and relearn a few songs and although I've not managed to nail any yet, I have worked out a way which makes it much easier than BITD. Firstly, I import the track into Logic Pro (V11) and use the stem splitter to separate the bass from the rest of the track. Then I 'remix' it with the bass at a higher level and open the result in "Transcribe" by Seventh String Software. The way that allows you to loop sections and slow down the track without changing the pitch make it much easier to isolate and learn the parts and is light years ahead of the way we used to do it BITD.

 

 

[itsmedunc]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Yeah agree, he still sounds like JJ by his playing style but that famous aggressive tone of the early years has gone. 

Virtually every band I’ve seen in a decent sized venue for well over a decade have had a ‘generic’ horrible woolly bass sound. Rigs tend to be sub bass heavy (sub isn’t needed for most genres imho). Engineers seem to think that ‘sub bass’ is what it’s all about now. Totally baffles me. Can’t they tell that the bass is just a blur and it’s not actually enhancing the overall sound at all? Was their tutor off that week?
I still like to think that bands of a certain ‘level’ have their own sound engineers but I think I’m kidding myself there. 

Maybe JJ’s sound is much more authentic onstage? I like JJ so I’m blaming the PA guys 😂

[Velarian]

5 minutes ago, Bass Fumbler said:

https://bass.relentlessrevolutions/stranglers2/index.html

 

Plenty of Stranglers bass tabs on the above site. I don’t know why No More Heroes isn’t on there but that’s usually on the other tabs site. 
Enjoy playing a great selection of bass lines. 

The URL you posted doesn't work. I think this is the correct one:  https://bass.relentlessrevolutions.com/stranglers2/index.html

 

Edit: Great Resource! Thanks 

Edited 16 hours ago by Velarian

[Velarian]

3 minutes ago, itsmedunc said:

Virtually every band I’ve seen in a decent sized venue for well over a decade have had a ‘generic’ horrible woolly bass sound. Rigs tend to be sub bass heavy (sub isn’t needed for most genres imho). Engineers seem to think that ‘sub bass’ is what it’s all about now. Totally baffles me. Can’t they tell that the bass is just a blur and it’s not actually enhancing the overall sound at all? Was their tutor off that week?
I still like to think that bands of a certain ‘level’ have their own sound engineers but I think I’m kidding myself there. 

Maybe JJ’s sound is much more authentic onstage? I like JJ so I’m blaming the PA guys 😂

This is very true. I've seen the Stranglers live many times and woolly bass was almost invariably the case. Smaller venues definitely fair better than larger ones.

[PaulWarning]

7 minutes ago, itsmedunc said:

Maybe JJ’s sound is much more authentic onstage? I like JJ so I’m blaming the PA guys 😂

they use there own PA guy, so no excuse really, a guy I was with asked how he got the JJ bass sound, he said it's not as hard as you think, then proceeded not to get it 😆.

Like @Velarian said the early bass sound had all but disapeared after the Black and White album, my favourite explanation is that the green P bass he was using broke in half (or probably 2/3rds, 1/3rd), he had if repaired but it was never the same again, I saw a quote somewhere where's he played hundreds of P's since but never found one that sounded the same

[Grooverjr]

Oooh, you lucky bugger. That's a bit of a dream gig for a bassist! You can wear black, play a black P bass and strut around on stage looking like you own the joint - who wouldn't love that?

I've tried for ages to get an early JJ tone (as exemplified on Nice n Sleazy) and it always required so much gain that the noise from the strings was overpowering or the treble took over. I've been trying to pin it down through sculpting on the Roland VB99 and it gets close-ish but I think a lot of what made it so unique is also down to his technique with the pick, which I clearly don't share.  I find the tone also makes it really hard to identify pitch, for my ears at least, so it's harder to work out songs where he's using anything other than bog standard intervals. Tramp, for example, is straightforward but I've never properly nailed some of Baroque Bordello. When the tone isn't off the charts, like Strange Little Girl, it's also pretty easy to get them. And when you do, you appreciate just how nice they are.

I wasn't aware of that relentlessrevolutions site, so I'll have lots of fun trawling through that and seeing where I was off. It's got a lot of the less popular stuff, which is great. No School Mam, though 😥

[Beedster]

We do an album gig (rehearse an album for 3-months, gig it once and once only, and move on). I have floated Rattus Norvegicus for three reasons

 

1. It's a f***ing awesome album

2. We have a sublimely talented keys player

3. I'm a bass player

 

Fingers crossed on that album, but otherwise yes, @Si600 you are a lucky man 👍

[Grooverjr]

1 minute ago, Beedster said:

We do an album gig (rehearse an album for 3-months, gig it once and once only, and move on). I have floated Rattus Norvegicus for three reasons

 

1. It's a f***ing awesome album

2. We have a sublimely talented keys player

3. I'm a bass player

 

Fingers crossed on that album, but otherwise yes, @Si600 you are a lucky man 👍

But you could have gone for Aural Sculpture....... 🤣 Seriously, sounds like a lot of fun and as well as being awesome, as you say, it's an eminently learnable and giggable album I'd have thought

[Stub Mandrel]

Ultimate Guitar can be a bit hit-and-miss, but it should get you in the ballpark.

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/artist/the_stranglers_337

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Ultimate Guitar can be a bit hit-and-miss, but it should get you in the ballpark.

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/artist/the_stranglers_337

 

Thanks, if that was for me I try not to use tabs unless I'm really stuck, I much prefer to work it out by ear 👍

[thebrig]

Although my playing isn't great, JJ's tone is achievable (within reason), with a little bit of tweaking, probably good enough in a live situation?

The bass has been removed from all these backing tracks, so what you hear is my take on the bass line.

 

 

 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by thebrig

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Velarian said:

The URL you posted doesn't work. I think this is the correct one:  https://bass.relentlessrevolutions.com/stranglers2/index.html

 

Edit: Great Resource! Thanks 

 

That is really weird... somehow a simple copy gave me a mashup of two different web addresses!

[Stub Mandrel]

33 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Thanks, if that was for me I try not to use tabs unless I'm really stuck, I much prefer to work it out by ear 👍

 

@Si600 started this off by asking for Stranglers resources!